Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Great Except Tim

Starting pitcher:
JC Parsons

The Giants showed some impressive weaponry in a 9-6 victory over the pesky Rockies to take the second game of the series. We sure have some ownage on their asses lately. An ineffective and ugly outing by Tim Lincecum was over shadowed by the uncharacteristic outpouring of runs. Great to get the come from behind win, but the evidence of another horrible year brewing for Tim gets more real every day.

If you, like most other Giants fans, were desperately looking for signs of the "Freaky Resurrection" tonight, well, you were disappointed. Of course, being disappointed by Tim Lincecum has become a regular feature of Giants baseball. The second inning was his undoing this time; five frigging runs on two hits! All three walks he gave up came around to score. Yuck! The horror moment of the nightmare inning was giving up a two out walk to the pitcher. Sadly, this type of self destruct crap has haunted Timmeh for awhile now. Needless to say, the ridiculous walk was followed by two solid hits that drove in four runs. Double Yuck!

Luckily, some unexpected offense made Lincecum's continuing descent tolerable and got him off the hook for what looked like a well deserved loss. The slumping Marco Scutaro awoke with a three hit night. Hunter Pence continues to look like an RBI machine with two more tonight. Gregor Blanco got on base three times, which keeps his OBP around .400. The biggest hit came when Brandon Crawford delivered the second home run of his career at AT&T Park; a three run opposite field shot. Throw in the usual stellar bullpen work (5 saves for Romo, all ending with a strikeout!), and it was a fine night at the park.

5 comments:

. . . if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man . . .

(Judges 16:17, KJV)

I'm tellin' you, man, it is that horrible freakin' haircut. I want my Timmy with his freaky locks back!!

Anyway, wins are wins. That is what matters the most. Tim, despite striking out seven guys, is not a "power" pitcher anymore. He has to rely on movement, which he has in abundance, and control/command, which he seems to lack. Despite the loss in velocity, he can still throw nasty shit, so he can still pitch. He needs to learn HOW to pitch and not just rely on "stuff." Tim Hudson barely tops 90 mph, but he is still a stud. Barry Zito re-learned the art of getting guys out and keeping his team in the game, so can Lincecum. On a side note, Hector Sanchez' poor pitch-framing skills were obviously not a factor last night. Perhaps, however, he and Tim need a better game plan and need to learn to use what is working that night instead of relying on imaginary "I-used-to-be-able-to-do-that" pitches.

And way to go, BCraw!! Best fielder in the league and now opposite-field pop in the hardest park in baseball for lefties? DAMN!

There should have been the first out before the run scored, which would have probably put Tulo on third with two outs and no runs scored. The strikeout that followed would have gotten us out of the inning long before Fowler ever came up. Tim set down the side in the 1st and 3rd, and walked one but retired the side on 4 batters in the 4th. He gave up one hit in the 5th and 6th (one of those Tulo's hr) and walked no one. So, Tim could have walked off the mound at the end of 6 with 1 run allowed. Not so bad. I do not think this is anything close to "evidence of another horrible year brewing for Tim." Yes, I'm wearing those rose-tinted glasses.

Tim knows how to pitch, and I think you are doing him a disservice to suggest otherwise. He does not always have control over his pitches. He still has a devastating change-up, but without being able to set it up with a fastball (where he seems to have control issues) the batters can wait it out. Or get a fastball over the plate where they can hit it. The best thing was that Tim did not get Cained, but rather we saw a real, honest-to-God offensive rally to win going away.

Really sorry to say it, but I think that it's time for Tim to go down to the Minors to try to work things out. We've been on the 'letting him pitch himself through this' plan for nearly 1 1/2 seasons. It isn't getting any better. The only interlude in his troubles since August 2011 was the 2012 post-season, when he was awesome.

So, I say either send him to Fresno for a bit or have him shift into that X-factor relief role. I favor the Fresno option.

Many other great Pitchers have had to make a similar move to get their careers back on track. We can't afford to have him continue to trot out their & suffer.

On a positive note, his hitting seems to be improving. He's trying so hard to contribute in some way.

Yes, if Scutaro threw to first instead of second it might have been different. But, Tim walked three guys including the pitcher on pitches that weren't close. They were WTF pitches, as in, "where the fuck are they going?" There must be a mechanical flaw somewhere, and that is fixable (see Madison Bumgarner in the playoffs). And I do believe he needs to re-learn to pitch. He has a new arsenal, therefore he needs a new game plan. Barry Zito has re-learned to pitch, so can Tim. I don't think time in the minors will help. He needs to be around his catchers, his coaches, his teammates, etc. I have faith he will find a groove again. I hope he does and re-signs with the Giants in the off-season.